immigration

Arguments over Utah’s immigration enforcement law were heard in US District Court Friday. It was the first hearing on the law in about a year. Judge Clark Waddoups was waiting to rule on the constitutionality of HB 497 until after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on Arizona’s enforcement-only law.

Cecillia Wang is Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project, and a lawyer in the case against HB 497. Standing outside the US District Court in Salt Lake City after the hearing, Wang said the tide is turning in their favor.

Astronomers at the University of Utah are looking for people to help identify distant stars, Utah’s Attorney General leads a delegation to Washington D.C. to discuss immigration reform, and Governor Herbert meets President Obama to discuss the fiscal cliff.

On the second anniversary of the state’s creation of the Utah Compact an agreement between local businesses and organizations that envisions a compassionate and economically positive solution to immigration reform, retiring Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff joined Utah business leaders this morning at the Salt Lake Chamber for a roundtable discussion on how Utah’s congressional delegation can push real immigration reform on the federal level using the same principles espoused in the Utah’s compact.

Cooke praised leaders from the state’s Hispanic, Asian and Middle Eastern communities among others. He pledged he would restore the state Office of Ethnic Affairs and pointed to the Utah Compact as guide for how his administration would handle immigration policy.

We reach number two on the list of Utah voters’ priorities, State School Superintendent Larry Shumway gives his last speech, and the legal battle over Utah’s immigration enforcement law could soon come to an end.

The long drawn out legal challenge over Utah’s immigration enforcement law House Bill 497 is nearing its end. US District Court Judge Clark Waddoups could rule on the so-called “show me your papers law” any day now. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff gave an update at a meeting of the state’s Commission on Immigration and Migration Wednesday.

The non-partisan Utah Foundation surveys voters every election cycle to find out what issues concern them most. It's called the Utah Priorities Project, and KUER is presenting a series of programs examining these issues with the help of Foundation researchers.

Talk to the candidates and they'll have a list of issues that they say their constituents respond to. But Utah Foundation President Steve Kroes says the Utah Priorities Project lets voters set their own agenda.

Republican Congressional candidate Mia Love speaks at the Republican National Convention, her opponent Congressman Jim Matheson makes a speech of his own in Salt Lake, and Immigrant advocacy groups are holding deferred action status workshops around the state.

A federal rule change went into effect this month allowing immigrants who arrived in the US as children to stay in the country and work legally for two years. Immigrant advocacy groups are holding workshops all over the state to help people through the application process.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Arizona’s immigration law, but the implementation of Utah’s similar “show me your papers” legislation - HB 497 - is still awaiting a federal court decision. The law gives police officers authority to check suspects’ immigration status, but immigrant advocates say the US District Court in Utah needs to consider racial profiling arguments that were not heard by the Supreme Court.

Utah immigrants responded with tears today after the announcement from President Barack Obama that undocumented youth would not be deported and would be given work authorizations.

Brian Gutierrez works with the Salt Lake Dream team for the passage of the DREAM Act - proposed federal legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived as children. While Obama’s executive order does not provide citizenship, Gutierrez says it’s a victory for immigrants.